The greatest thing about Hip-Hop, apart from the culture’s diverse catalog of timeless music, is its ability to encourage thought, conversation and action.

Music aficionados can turn to Hip-Hop no matter the mood or state of mind. There are rap songs that talk about poverty, the drug trade, and education; records that delve into the paradigms of parenthood and family matters. There are tunes that even the romantics and in love can rock to. But no genre does a better job of analyzing the politics of warfare.

For better or worse, these songs are rooted in the military mind. Some advocate strapping on your boots and going to combat (both literally and figuratively), while others recount a tale of battle. In light of Memorial Day, here are 13 military-themed rap songs. These ought to remind us that conflict, off and on home soil, is real.